by Tia Mowry
“The B Boys?” My gaze shifted back to the three jocks who were taking their seats in the back row.
“That’s what everybody calls them,” Liam said. “Their names are Buzz, Biff, and Brent.” He ticked off each name on one skinny finger. “Plus Brayden, of course, but he’s not in this homeroom. But they’re all on the football team together.”
“Yeah,” Bianca said. “Gabe tried out for the team, but he got cut.”
Liam nodded. “Everyone was pretty surprised since his uncle was the star of the team back in his day.”
“Right,” Bianca said. “And nobody was more surprised than Gabe.” The corners of her mouth twitched, though it didn’t quite turn into a smile. “Ever since, Gabe’s really had it in for the guys who made it—not that they seem to notice or care.”
“So football is a big deal here, huh?” I said, my mind drifting to the games and pep rallies at my old school, which had always been super fun.
This time Bianca’s mouth twitched all the way into a wry half smile. “What do you think? This is Texas.” She turned to Liam. “So how were Megan and Lav? I’m surprised you survived a whole afternoon with them.”
“Are those two really that bad?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“Megan’s okay, mostly,” Liam said. “She’s probably the most popular girl in the sixth grade. Her family practically founded this town back in the Alamo days.” He hesitated. “And Lavender is, um—”
“Here,” Bianca interrupted, nodding toward the door.
Looking over, I saw Lavender walking in with a couple of other girls. She saw me, too.
“How’d you get here so fast, freak?” she said loudly, glaring at me.
For a second I didn’t understand what she meant. It had been like a day and a half since I’d seen her at the fund-raising stand.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she said when I didn’t answer, her voice getting even louder. “I said, how’d you get here before me? I came straight from the stairs, and you were standing there like a doofus when I left.”
Wait. Oh. Right.
“Uh, that was probably my sister,” I said.
“Yeah,” Liam piped up. “They’re identical twins! We’ve never had twins in our class before.”
“Twins?” one of the other girls said in surprise.
“Twins,” Lavender said, like it was some kind of disease. “So which one of you was the freak I met on Monday?”
“That would be me,” I admitted weakly. “Sorry about that. I guess the heat got to me, and—”
Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned and saw that Mr. Bad Attitude, Gabe, had shot up in his chair. “Wait, did somebody say twins?” he called out. “Where?”
“Here,” I said, glad for an excuse to turn away from Lavender. “My sister, Cassie, and I just moved to town, and—”
“I know who you are!” Gabe leaped to his feet, stomping toward me, his boots clomping on the tile floor. “Your mom stole my uncle Chuck’s job!”
“What?” I blurted out, having no idea what he was talking about. Judging by the expressions on Liam’s and Bianca’s faces, they didn’t know either. But it definitely couldn’t be good news.
“Chill out, Gabe.” Lavender rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to deal with this freak, okay?”
“Get in line,” Gabe snarled. “Because if I have anything to say about it—”
“Attention, people!” a woman cried, striding into the room with her long, peasant-style dress flowing around her. “Take your seats; we have business before the announcements come on.”
Most of the kids scattered, even Lavender, though she shot me one last dirty look as she went. Only Gabe was left standing, beefy fists clenched at his sides.
“Mr. Campbell?” the teacher said, arching a drawn-on eyebrow at him. “Seat. Now.”
“Yes, Ms. Xavier,” Gabe muttered. But even as he stalked back to his seat, I could feel him glaring at the back of my head.
I tried to focus on the teacher as she beamed at me, clasping her hands in front of her. Every one of her fingers had a ring on it, most of them chunky and boho looking, with huge, colorful stones. Ms. Xavier looked like she should be selling pottery or beaded jewelry in La Villita or Southtown, not teaching sixth grade in a small town. Her reddish-brown hair sprang out from her face in wild curls, and her Birkenstocks revealed that every toenail was painted a different color. She was awesome!
“You must be Caitlyn Waters,” she said. “Welcome to Aura Middle School!”
“Thanks,” I said. By now almost all the seats were full, and I could feel every set of eyes trained on me. I had an idea I knew what was coming next. . . .
“Why don’t you stand up and tell us all a little bit about yourself, Caitlyn?” Ms. Xavier said cheerfully.
Yup. Why did teachers always do that to the new kid? And this time I didn’t even have Cassie standing beside me. I wondered if another teacher was humiliating her in some other classroom right this second. Knowing I might as well get it over with, I crawled to my feet and forced a smile.
“Hi, y’all,” I said as cheerfully as I could. “Like she said, I’m Caitlyn Waters.”
I was trying not to meet anyone’s eye, but I couldn’t help seeing that Lavender was still making smirky little faces at me. Turning to Liam and Bianca, I focused on them instead. Liam looked as friendly as ever, and Bianca gave me a nod and a small, sympathetic smile.
“So about me . . .” Even though Mom liked to claim I never stopped talking, I was never sure what to say in moments like this. Somehow I doubted anyone cared that I loved funny movies and dried chili flakes on my popcorn, or that I was a teensy bit afraid of squirrels. “I moved here from San Antonio, and I have an identical twin sister named Cassie,” I said. “I like to sing, and I played softball and ran track at my old school. Um, and—”
“Identical twins?” Ms. Xavier broke in. “How fascinating! Did you know that in the voodoo religion, twins are revered and thought to have supernatural powers?”
Cass and I had heard a lot of wacky stuff about twins over the years, but that was a new one. Luckily I was saved from having to respond when the PA system crackled to life.
“Time to take your seat, Ms. Waters,” the teacher said. “And again, welcome.”
I sank gratefully back into my chair. The announcements began—I recognized the cheery, slightly nasal voice of the pink-haired lady who had given us our schedules. She started with that day’s cafeteria menu, then mentioned a pep rally and home football game on Friday, which brought loud whoops from the back of the room.
Once again I thought back to my old school. Football games were one of the few things Cassie and I had still done together. We’d meet up with a whole gang of friends at someone’s house, drink soda until we were totally jazzed on caffeine and sugar, and then scream our hearts out for the home team. It was a total blast!
Would football games be anything like that here? Would Cass even want to go? She seemed to have a pretty bad attitude about Aura so far. Would games still be as much fun without her? Thinking about it made me feel lonely and sort of squirmy, so I did my best to push it out of my mind.
Of course, not thinking about the past left me with only the present—including what had just happened. I knew why Lavender thought I was a freak, but what had Gabe’s comment been all about? The only thing Mom had told us about her new job was that someone had left the squad, creating an opening. So how could she have stolen the job from Gabe’s uncle or anyone else?
I had no idea, and it was just one more reminder that life was different now. Whether I liked it or not.
5
CASSIE
BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON I’d figured out where most of my classes were—not much of a challenge since Aura Middle School was tiny compared to our last school. As in seriously tiny. At AMS the entire sixth grade was divided into only two sections—green and gold—with only one homeroom per section. That was it. The sections stayed separate for most of
their classes, coming together only for lunch and gym, and mixing it up for electives.
The good news? Lavender wasn’t in my section. The bad news? Her blond friend—who I quickly learned was named Megan March—was, along with a couple of girls who I could only assume were her minions. Their favorite activity, especially during homeroom and study hall, seemed to be whispering to one another while staring at me. Nice, right? It hadn’t taken me long to figure out that Lavender’s bad attitude had something to do with my sister. I had no idea what Caitlyn had done to get her all worked up—or when, for that matter. But whatever it was, Lavender and Co. were definitely holding it against me.
For one thing, I was pretty sure they were behind the ridiculous rumors flying around school, like the ones where Cait and I were only here in Aura because we got kicked out of our old school for cheating or shoplifting or beating up a teacher. Or the one about how we weren’t just regular twins but conjoined twins who’d had surgery to separate us since we’d been born joined at the butt. Pretty juvenile stuff, right? Even so, apart from Cait’s nerd troop, the kids at school were giving us a wide berth.
It was more than a little distracting. But at least I was ahead on most of the class material and caught up quickly on the rest. Even social studies wasn’t so bad. I spent half of Friday’s class doodling the San Antonio skyline in the margins of my notebook. It turned out pretty well, if I say so myself. I gazed at it, imagining myself back there, having a real life instead of being stuck here in Atrocious Aura.
The bell jolted me out of my fantasies. Everyone immediately started shuffling around, jamming papers and books into their bags, getting ready to bolt.
“All right, people,” the social studies teacher said. Her name was Ms. Xavier, and she was as weird as the rest of the town was boring. Totally wackadoodle, actually, from her long, crazy rat’s nest of dark hair to her so-last-season flowy gypsy skirts. Trying to calculate how many fashion faux pas she made per day made it a little easier to stay awake in her class. “Finish the reading this weekend, all right?” she said, winking at us. “But don’t worry; you can start it after the game this afternoon. I’ll see y’all there, right?”
I winced as the boy behind me whooped directly into my ear. All around the room, people cheered or shouted, “Go, Armadillos!” I’d thought kids at my old school were into football. But here? It was practically a religion. Turning, I saw that Brayden was trading high fives with his friends at the back of the room.
Yeah, he was in my section, too. It had taken me about zero point five seconds to notice that when I’d walked into my first class. Not that it mattered. I wouldn’t be here long enough to care.
I stuffed my books into my bag as the other kids rushed for the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone coming my way and braced myself.
But it wasn’t Megan, or even my teacher. It was Brayden. He bent down with one quick move, surprisingly graceful for such a tall guy, and grabbed something off the floor by my feet.
It was a pen. “Hey,” he said, holding it out. “I think you dropped this.”
“Thanks.” I carefully took the pen, trying not to let my hand touch his. The last thing I needed right now was for that weirdo double vision thing to happen again. Wednesday’s disaster with Brayden was the third or fourth time something crazy like this had happened over the past six months or so, and it was starting to freak me out.
At first I’d thought it was just low blood sugar. It was a Saturday back in the spring, and I’d gone to the mall with a few friends. We’d spent the day on a major shopping spree, and I was shaking with hunger by the time we finally hit the food court.
I’d been standing in line, counting the seconds until I could sink my teeth into my favorite Cajun chicken wrap. But I guess I’d reached for my food a little too eagerly, because I accidentally grabbed the guy’s hand behind the counter instead.
And that’s when it happened. The moment I touched his hand, my brain sort of shorted out, and my vision went fuzzy. Suddenly his bored expression transformed briefly into a terrified one. I pulled back in shock, but the whole thing only lasted a split second. I’d figured it was just hunger making me hallucinate.
Until it happened again. This time with Mom. I was helping her peel potatoes for dinner. Our kitchen in the old apartment was pretty small, so we were right next to each other. Our shoulders bumped, and suddenly I heard the buzzing sound again. When I glanced over at Mom, there were two of her. One version, faded away almost to nothing, looking normal, while the other looked really worried, freaked-out even—which isn’t like Mom, who always stays cool as a cucumber even when everything’s melting down around her. I hated seeing her like that and shrank back quickly. Once our shoulders parted, the vision was gone. Mom hadn’t even noticed anything had happened!
I had to admit, it was getting even harder to ignore that something very weird was going on. Especially since it occurred a couple more times—and each time it lasted a little longer, and the strange vision got a little more vivid.
And now it had happened again, right here in Aura. With Brayden. And that vision of us holding hands. It seemed so real. I mean, I didn’t totally hate the idea of holding hands with Brayden, but still it was eerie. It definitely didn’t seem like a random daydream. I mean, sure, Brayden was cute. But I wasn’t the type of girl who went around imagining herself holding hands with every cute guy I saw. So what was going on with me? And how could I keep it from happening again?
Even though I tried to avoid it, Brayden’s fingers did sort of brush lightly against my hand. I braced myself for the buzzing sound, but luckily nothing strange happened. Except that Brayden kept standing there, sort of rocking back and forth on his heels and smiling down at me. What was that about?
“Well, okay,” he said after a long, awkward moment. “See you in art, I guess.”
“Yeah,” I said.
He started to turn away, then paused. “And listen, you should come to the game today,” he said. “Like Ms. X said, everyone goes. It’s pretty fun.” He puffed out his chest. “And we’re totally going to crush West River; half their good players graduated last year, and—”
“Yo, Diaz!” one of the other jocks shouted. “You coming?”
“Yeah.” Brayden shot me one last smile, then loped off. “I’m coming.”
I held my breath, watching him go. He really was awfully cute. For a moment I was tempted. What would be the harm in going to the football game? It might even be a fun distraction. A decent way to pass the time until I got myself out of this speed bump of a town.
Then I saw Megan March and one of her minions lurking in the doorway. Were they watching me, or was I paranoid? I caught Megan’s eye, and she whipped around, blond hair flying, to whisper something in her friend’s ear. The other girl giggled. I was so not being paranoid.
Part of me wanted to find a place to hide. But the bigger part, the part that always wanted to be the best, wasn’t having any of it. No small-town twit was going to intimidate me! I mean, come on!
I grabbed the rest of my stuff and strode toward the door. Megan and Minion were still hanging out in the doorway. I brushed past them with an icy cool “Excuse me.”
“There’s no excuse for you,” the minion piped up.
It was such a lame, elementary-school response that I almost laughed. Almost. Instead I kept on going without a backward glance.
As I rounded the corner, I had to stop short to keep from running right into my twin and her new Super Nerd Squad. She’d been hanging around nonstop with Liam, and I guess he and this Bianca girl were a package deal. I didn’t know much about her except that she had a clarinet case permanently glued to one hand and a book affixed to the other. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure she could talk, since I hadn’t heard a peep out of her yet.
“Cass!” Cait said, actually sounding happy to see me.
I couldn’t imagine why. We’d barely spoken all week. Which was a little awkward, given our current sleeping arrang
ements. She’d actually tried to start some chitchat after lights-out a few times, but I’d fake-snored until she gave it up. I wasn’t in the mood for any late-night sisterly bonding, especially when she was acting too happy about moving to Aura to commiserate with me about how awful it was.
“Funny, I was just thinking about you,” I snapped, glaring at her.
“Really?” She looked surprised. “What do you mean?”
I can really turn on the sarcasm when I want to. And right then I let it flow. “I mean, I was thinking how grateful I am that I have the exact same face as you,” I said. “That way whenever anyone sees me, they think about whatever wackadoodle thing you did the other day. Thanks a lot. Now they’re starting to think I’m just as big a weirdo as you.”
“What’s she talking about?” Liam asked. “Oh, wait, is this about the—”
Cait shushed him abruptly. She frowned at me, arms akimbo. “And I’m sure none of this has anything to do with your bad attitude about this town.”
What do you know? My sweet sister could pull out the sarcasm, too! If I’d been in a better mood, I might have been impressed. “Whatever,” I said. “I just wish you—”
Before I could finish, someone came barreling down the hall. Uh-oh—it was Gabe, the greasy-headed cowboy.
“Out of my way, losers,” he snarled, pausing to glare at me and Caitlyn as he shoved past us.
“What’s with that guy anyway?” I muttered.
“That’s Gabe,” Liam said in his ooh-ooh-I-know-the-answer way.
“Yeah,” Bianca spoke up. “He thinks your mom stole his uncle’s job or something.”
“What?” I was so surprised to hear her say anything that it took a second for her words to sink in. I glanced at Cait, who looked uneasy.
“I don’t know what that’s about either,” she said quickly. “It’s probably nothing.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Sunshine,” I said with a snort.
But I didn’t really care what Gabe’s problem was. I just wanted out. As in out of stupid Aura, Texas. For good.
